Each year, consumers purchase motor vehicles, such as automobiles, motorcycles, boats and planes, from many different manufacturers. With each motor vehicle costing thousands of dollars, there is intense competition between manufacturers to produce motor vehicles which can run faster and are more reliable. However, when producing motor vehicles that run faster, inevitably, the engines must run at a faster rate. The increased operation of the engine translates into an increased operation of the piston and the components of the piston. More specifically, when moving the piston, a wrist pin is generally rotated and the more the piston moves, the greater the rate of rotation of the wrist pin. This is problematic in that the rotation of the wrist pins can also cause a conventional wire lock to rotate at an increased rate. The friction caused by the rotation of the conventional wire lock can deform the wrist pin lock groove where the conventional wire lock is secured. Deformation of the wrist pin lock groove can be catastrophic and can cause the wrist pin to malfunction and/or cause other problems. In some instances, the wrist pin may actually force its way out of the wrist pin lock groove. At high operations and rotations, a malfunction of the wrist pin can permanently or semi-permanently damage the piston.
Thus, conventional motor vehicles can have problems with reliability due to the rotation of the conventional wire lock and deformations caused by the rotation of the conventional wire lock. However, the conventional wire lock presents additional problems, too. When the conventional wire lock needs to be replaced, it is often difficult to retrieve them due to their propensity to rotate. Thus, users may use sharp objects in an attempt to pry the conventional wire lock away from the wrist pin lock groove. This can cause additional and sometimes severe damage to the piston.
While the damage caused by the conventional wire lock may appear to be minor or insignificant, any breach to the wrist pin lock groove can have catastrophic results to the piston and ultimately the engine. In such competitive motor vehicle markets, consumers will be unhappy with a motor vehicle which requires frequent engine repair or replacement.
Such problems can be further illustrated in FIG. 1, which shows a piston 200 including a piston body 102 defining an aperture 104. The aperture 104 is configured to receive a wrist pin (not shown). The piston body 102 also defines a wrist pin lock groove 106 for receiving a conventional wire lock 108. In addition, the piston body 102 also defines a pick lock notch 110. The pick lock notch 110 can be used to remove the conventional wire lock 108 from the wrist pin lock groove 106.
Although the conventional wire lock 108 fits into the wrist pin lock groove 106 through tension, rotation of the wrist pin in a direction indicated by arrow 122, for example, may cause the conventional wire lock 108 to rotate in the wrist pin lock groove 106. As shown in FIG. 1, there is no mechanical device to physically lock the conventional wire lock 108 into a substantially singular location. Thus, when a piston is reciprocating at high velocities and high rotations per minute, the wrist pin is also spinning at high rates. Since the wrist pin is located in the aperture 104, it is in contact with the conventional wire lock 108. This contact generally forces the conventional wire lock 108 to rotate within the wrist pin lock groove 106. The rotation of the conventional wire lock 108 within the wrist pin lock groove 106 causes deformation of the wrist pin lock groove 106 and possibly even engine failure due to the wrist pin forcing its way beyond the conventional wire lock 108. In addition, the conventional wire lock 108 can be rotated to a position such that the removal and replacement of the conventional wire lock 108 can be hazardous to the piston.